Author: Dr. Richard L. Benkin
Publication: Asian Tribune
Date: August 13, 2008
URL: http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12708
Bikash Halder has been traversing West Bengal
for months looking for help in protecting the more than 15 million Bangladeshi
Hindus from Islamist radicals. His concern at the moment is the fate of those
refugees now living in camps that dot the Indian border areas with Bangladesh,
and who remain stateless as a result of decisions in New Delhi and Kolkata.
But on July 27, at least 18 people carried out a brutal and coordinated attack
on him, seriously injuring him. He was treated at a local hospital and again
by a physician closer to his home. His wounds took over two weeks to heal.
Halder boarded a bus near Kolkata that morning
headed for the West Bengal district of North Dinajpur. But when the bus arrived
at Surjyapur, a couple stops before his destination, at least eighteen people
boarded the vehicle and dragged him onto the road.
"They said nothing," he told me,
"but just dragged me off [and] unitedly started to beat me….They
beat me with lethal weapons, including revolvers, sharp sticks, and other
dreadful arms. And they repeatedly said that they will kill me" if I
continued my activities for the Bangladeshi Hindu refugees.
Several local residents, including a Mr. Sanjay
and a Mr. Golok, came to his rescue.
"With their weapons, they could have
killed me, but they did not. They want us to stop, but I will not stop trying
to help these people" Halder said, and he has since resumed his activism.
Halder visited North Dinajpur less than two
weeks before the attack and met with Rabi Sikari from the village of Balur
Badh. "Sakari promised me that he will help us earnestly to open a new
unit of our endeavors" in the district. At the meeting, Sakari's daughter,
Shefali Bain, committed to create a "Ladies Unit" to protect the
refugees. Halder returned home confident of having formed yet another alliance.
A few days later, in fact, he received a call from the two who said they had
been moving forward and wanted to have another planning meeting at their residence.
They said that it was imperative for him to be at that meeting, which was
what brought Halder to North Dinajpur the day of the attack.
Halder identified over a dozen of the attackers
by name, including Shefali Bain and her husband Koyel Bain. "Not only
did they beat me," he said, "but also snatched my liquid money about
8ooo [Indian Rupees], my ATM card, official identity card, and other valuable
documents with my address, and above all my traveling kits. You can see, the
entire thing was a trap to stop us."
"All of my attackers are inhabitants
of North Dinajpur," he said. "Most are supporters of CPIM,"
the Communist Party of India/Marxist, which has ruled West Bengal for the
past three decades. Several local Hindu leaders (who are remaining anonymous
for fear of retaliation) helped him with the identification. They seemed to
confirm Halder's suspicions that the attack was a joint effort by Communists
and Islamists, who have been collaborating to victimizie Bangladesh's Hindus
for several decades. Those local leaders who came to Halder's aid also told
him that "Shefali and Rabi Sikari are fully dependent on Md. Masud for
their livelihood."
Md. Masud Vill was one of the leaders of the
attack, and locals in North Dinajpur stated that his connection to Islamist
terrorist groups is well known. "A few months ago," they said, "Local
police picked up a Kasmiri radical at Md. Masud's house, but he was released
without any charges ever being filed against him or Masud. This is because
the West Bengal government never does anything against Islamic radicals."
Suspicion has also fallen on Sipan Basu, a
former associate of Halder's. He began working with Halder late last year
and accompanied the two of us as we toured well over a dozen refugee camps
in West Bengal this past February and interviewed scores of refugees. Unbeknownst
to us at the time, however, Basu had embezzled approximately 150,000 Bangladeshi
Taka ($2,200 US) that was collected to support our efforts on behalf of the
Bangladeshi Hindus. Ever since that time, he has been trying to subvert Halder's
efforts. Informants from inside Bangladesh also have connected Basu to ongoing
illegal enterprises, including human trafficking. "The reason [for my
suspicion]," Halder said, "is that Rabi Sikari-the very man who
laid this trap for me-is the uncle of the criminal Sipan."
Bikash Halder represents Interfaith Strength,
a human rights group founded by this writer, which is actively involved in
trying to stop the ethnic cleansing of Bangladeshi Hindus. Halder and Interfaith
Strength also have been active in exposing the links between Communists and
Islamists in South Asia, termed by this writer as the Red-Green Alliance.
